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"We
will enter the first talks soon with the European works
council," Airbus Defence and Space chief Dirk Hoke told Reuters
in an interview cleared for publication on Saturday, adding that
negotiations would then take place at national level.
Recurring technical problems with the A400M led the German air
force to refuse delivery of two of the aircraft last autumn.
The group has also taken a 1.2 billion euro ($1.3 billion)
charge on the worsening sales outlook, with a German ban on
defense exports to Saudi Arabia causing Airbus Defence and Space
to lose a promising potential customer, said Hoke.
German-headquartered Airbus Defence and Space, formed in 2014 as
part of a broader restructuring, employs 34,000 staff - 13,000
of them in Germany - and contributes around a fifth of revenues
to parent group Airbus.
"The works councils know that I will fight to keep every job I
can. We won't come with disproportionate numbers," Hoke said.
Job cuts would depend on capacity utilization and project
pipeline at different facilities: "Here I have to tell local
politicians that the guarantees to keep plants open that many of
them demand depend on projects."
Hoke expressed optimism over the prospects for a project to
develop joint next-generation Franco-German fighter jets and
military drones after German lawmakers allocated nearly 80
billion euros for the test phase of the project.
($1 = 0.9234 euros)
(Reporting by Sabine Siebold and Alexander Huebner; Writing by
Douglas Busvine; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)
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